A chorus of disapproval

I've given a right old pasting to John Berry in my reviews recently. I've reminded opera lovers - and taxpayers - that the artistic director of English National Opera was appointed from within the company without proper process. I've criticised his repertoire choices, such as his reliance on musicals like On The Town and Kismet, and his belief that an intimate drama such as The Coronation Of Poppea would work on an empty stage the size of an aircraft hangar.

I've also harped on about the use of inexperienced novices as directors, resulting in Sally Potter's bum-numbingly turgid Carmen and Conall Morrison's substandard Traviata. Let's not forget the utter train-wreck that was Gaddafi: A Living Myth, either. What is Berry's vision for the company? What audience is he chasing after with these works?

Now that there's also a production of Aida designed by Zandra Rhodes looming round the corner, I want to put my criticisms face to face. It's nothing personal, you understand. In person, Berry is smiling and affable, if somewhat overzealous in his use of buzzwords - useful dialogue', 'important conversation', 'challenge' and so on.

We meet at the ENO and chat over an early morning coffee. We begin with Aida which, surprisingly, is actually the dowager-duchess of punk's third opera design. It's a co-production with Houston Grand Opera and premiered there in April. Though it's difficult to judge from photos, while the costumes look very colourful, I suggest that the sets seem a bit two-dimensional.

'The flatness is like a David Hockney kind of stylisation,' counters Berry, 'but I think audiences will actually find it quite representational and straightforward, as well as colourful. We're not doing a wild political updating or anything like that. Jo Davies, the director, is trying to find the right balance between the tension of the love triangle and the spectacular set-pieces.'

I hope that she does. The ENO sorely needs a critical success after the maulings that Carmen and Poppea received. It also needs to placate audiences who stayed away from Kismet and On The Town in droves.

'The start to the season has certainly caused a real conversation,' says Berry. 'But critics and the public don't always agree. Carmen has already had performances with 95 per cent and 97 per cent attendance. And last year, the overall attendance figure was 70 per cent.' Jolly good, but it doesn't mean people will return for revivals. 'Maybe not, but we'll continue to put innovation and risk at the core of what we do.' He has a list of points on the table in front of him and is working his way through it.

There's risk and there's calculated risk, however, and using novices such as film director Potter seems to me to be the former. Surely her operatic inexperience was evident? 'That's your opinion, and perfectly valid. But I would say that we're living in a multimedia and multicultural environment, and it's important to cross boundaries. And with the interactive Carmen website, I think we've opened up a real conversation with the audience.'

Oh heavens. What does that mean, exactly? Who is moderating this conversation and giving it focus?

A clutch of blogged opinions is not a conversation. 'You're right. That's the challenge for us. To find a focus and see where it might be leading.'

But an artistic director needs vision, I counter. I question the kind of vision which pinned so many hopes on musicals last year, when the company had to make so many compromises to put them on.